Toby Kebbell interview

LWLies – I met you at the British Independent Film Awards. You’d just won best supporting actor for Control. I remember you said that you were just glad to be working.
Tony Kebbell – Yup, still glad to be working. Actually I just got a job on a new Jerry Bruckheimer film so I’m working for six months, which is great.

LWLies – Presumably you didn’t go method approach to this role?
No I didn’t become a crackhead.

Okay, but how did you approach getting the character together?
I know crackheads are very thin. There are heroin users that can be anything…They can be doctors or teachers and as long as they can afford it they’re fine. It’s when they can’t that it goes wrong. But the crack really switches you straight away. So the method that I did do for the role – I just lost a lot of weight.

But he’s also a bit of a sociopath, a bit of a psychopath. It’s the nature and nurture. He’s grown up with that psychotic behaviour around him, but he’s also got a bit of that inside him. All of those people who are at any sort of extreme. They’re human beings as well.

LWLies – This film is in many ways, a real act of defiance on Guy Ritchie’s part. A lot of people will have said to him “Really? Another film about east end criminals?” and he’s said, “Fuck you, that’s the story I want to tell.”

The way he pitched it to me. He said, “This is a film about modern day gangsters. Criminals are much more of a corporate body now.’” He explained the other guys and said, “There’s this one guy who just wants to get away from the world, that’s the part I want you to play.”

LWLies – What about your spare time, you’re a pretty creative person all round I hear?
A lot of my friends are actors and we’re all often unemployed, so we try and do stuff. What I do want to do is sit around with my friends with my Dictaphone and just improv. Even when you put it on double speed, for me, that’s fucking hilarious. So we just sit there and improv and make up little stories and play them back. But right now it’s just for our own amusement. But it feels creative. You know we wear tie die pants doing it (laughs).

LWLies – You can do anything with your life outside of acting, what do you want to do?
For a long time I wanted to be in the army. But I’m not great with discipline – self discipline, I can do, but when a three foot tall dude is screaming at you that your arms are not right, then… it’s tiresome. But I have massive admiration for anyone who goes and does that.

LWLies– What’s your view on extreme sports or activities. Are you interested in that sort of thing?
I don’t do them. I’m terrified of them. But I’d love to jump off like Angel Falls base jumping or something crazy, but… when I was a kid I did a lot, but now I’m just lazy as an adult.

LWLies– Rocknrolla is clearly not cinéma vérité, but do you think there really is a real network of criminals running the city? That sort of culture?
I discussed this with Guy – about where my character came from. There’s a scene in the film, a flashback where my character is at school, Eton, or wherever it’s supposed to be, and my uncle Richie pulls out a gun. That’s pretty shocking, but he said you’d be shocked when you’re a gangster film director the number of people who come up to him and make claims like that. But he himself doesn’t know if it’s for real. Someone comes up and says ‘I used to be a gangster and kill people’ you don’t know if it’s just bullshit. I know there is a lot of violence going on out there, but I don’t know what’s real or not.

LWLies– makes for good films though…
Right, good films, ha!

LWLies– It’s a pretty wide and varied cast, what was the atmosphere like on set?
Well, you’re working with Tom Wilkinson, it’s like being in a play with Tom, he’s got so much to teach you. Tom Hardy as well, who’s done tonnes of shit. It’s one of the first times, I’ve been with a cast and got really attached to everyone. But Guy’s very good. He’s an actor’s director – which is a bit clichéd and wanky, but he very simply explains what he wants to see and by his explanation, you know he knows exactly what he wants to see. But I got to shoot guns. It was great fun.

LWLies – So what have you got next?
I’m doing Prince of Persia, playing a Prince of Persia, head of the Persian army and I’ve got a brother who’s going to be the future king if our father dies. Then there’s Jake Gyllenhaal who’s the Prince of Persia (from the title). It’s great. We’re shooting in Morocco and it’s hot and continuous days. I’m in a full set of armour it’s tough, but it’s great too. I get to learn to ride a horse, it’s phenomenal. It’s the hardest work I’ve done – that’s like moaning about my diamond shoes being too tight – but it’s great fun to do. I do all the things you wanted to do as a kid – wear armour, scream around the place and so on. I’m loving it really.